Tales of the Fey
by AmazingGraceless
Summary: It's been twenty-four years since the fall of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Sometimes it takes time for consequences to appear. There has been a rise in fairy activity, and children have been spirited away, only to return changed. Four misfits will band together to face this threat. What happens when one boy's worst fear comes to confront him? Who are the Ancients?
1. Prologue

It was bright day on September 1st as the Malfoy family strolled out onto Platform 9 and 3/4. Auburn hair bounced off of the little girl's hair as she skipped forward, a few paces away from her family. She resembled her mother greatly. The same red hair, hazel eyes, and overall good energy. Her brother stayed closer to his parents. He was aware of the dangers that came with wearing Slytherin paraphernalia.

Nasty glares were shot in the direction of the Malfoys, but the little girl was oblivious to all of this. She skipped merrily ahead to where a woman was fussing with a little dark-haired boy's jacket. Dark hair, dark eyes, pale skin, he was the gothic dream child. He stared up at his mother.

"What if I get into Slytherin?" He asked in a mix between a British and American accent.

"It won't matter," the woman promised in an American accent. She hugged her son close. "You'll still be my sweet little boy and I'll love you no matter what."

"But what if I end up like-" The woman raised a finger to his lips and smiled.

"You won't."

She patted his shoulder and let go of him. He picked up his satchel and started to drag his trunk towards the train. The woman let out a bubbly laugh and started to help him with his things. He was about to get onto the train after her when one of the older boys caught on to the back of his jacket.

"What are you doing here, foreigner?" One boy with black hair and a Gryffindor sweatshirt demanded.

"Yeah, why aren't you going to that girls' school?" Another taunted.

"My father went to Hogwarts," the gothic boy said quietly. "I have just as much of a right to be here as you."

"Who's your dad then?" The black-haired boy demanded. "Prove it-"

"I-" The gothic boy looked like he was struggling for words. He didn't know what he was supposed to say.

"Liar! What's your real family name?" Another boy asked.

"Fairchild!" The gothic boy said quickly.

"That's an American name," the black-haired boy said with disgust. "Michael Fairchild, is he your father?"

"My grandfather," Fairchild said softly. He tried to tug away. "Just let me go, I-"

"You don't belong here!"

"Go away!"

"Stupid American!"

"Why don't you leave him alone?" The childish voice of the red-haired girl came out from behind them. Her mother came up behind her quickly.

"Aqua, you shouldn't run off like-" She stopped. "What's going on here?"

The voice of Astoria Malfoy was one to be feared. Many celebrities feared this Daily Prophet reporter. While she was full of sunshine most of the time, when she put on the infamous voice, you knew that it was useless to resist. She'd get what she wanted.

"Let go of that boy right now," she ordered in her deadly voice. The boys immediately ran off, except for Fairchild. Of course, that was the time at which the boy's mother came off of the train.

"I heard something-Vaner, are you alright?" She asked her son.

"I'm fine, Mom, this lady helped me," he said. His mother turned to Ms. Malfoy.

"Thank you so much, I'd heard from Professor McGonagall that there would be some issues with him being raised mostly in America," the mother said. "I'm Janna Fairchild."

"Astoria Malfoy," Ms. Malfoy said as she extended her hand. Ms. Fairchild took it and shook it heartily.

"You're that reporter that everyone's afraid of over here!" She cried.

"Nice to know that my reputation goes across the pond," Ms. Malfoy remarked dryly. "Welcome to England. I hope your son enjoys Hogwarts."

At this, Ms. Fairchild nudged Vaner.

"Why don't you introduce yourself?" She suggested.

The little red-haired girl smiled and outstretched a hand. "I'm Aquarius Malfoy, but everyone calls me Aqua. Who are you?"

Vaner stared blankly for a moment, and then took her hand.

"Vaner Fairchild."


	2. End of the Innocence

"Vaner? Vaner?"

The boy, now fourteen, sat up. He must've dozed off. It was easy, in the Malfoy gardens. So beautiful and peaceful, nothing like home. It was August, and for him that meant that he had to return to the U.K. He preferred being with his mother at home, but unfortunately, Hogwarts was his school due to the Quill.

Vaner crushed some of the grass in his fists. He hated that thing. It had put him down because his father was British, which meant that he'd gotten that stupid letter. The letter had freaked his mom out, which led to him getting sent to Hogwarts.

"Vaner, you lazy bum!"

He was distracted by his thoughts to see his best friend, Aqua Malfoy, running over to him, a giant smile on her face, hand outstretched as always. He took it and got to his feet. The other two were waiting.

"Sorry, Aqua, I must've fallen asleep," he said.

"That's alright, I've heard jet lag is a pain in the ass," she said with a casual swat of the hand. "It's just that Nomi and Will wanted to play the game."

To be honest, it was more of a The Game type thing to Vaner. It was a role playing thing they'd done since they were first-years bored out of their minds in the Hufflepuff common room. They pretended to be ancient magical warriors that battled back before the muggles became the dominant race.

Of course, he played the evil warrior they fought against.

Some would consider their game childish (Vaner could've sworn that he'd heard Mr. Malfoy mumbling something about childishness inside the sitting room) but it helped all of them cope with life. It wasn't easy, being a Hufflepuff.

"So we're looking for the Fountain of Fair Fortune," Nomi declared as her long blond hair whipped out in the breeze dramatically. Vaner could picture her as a druidess with little imagination. She made the tackily-decorated walking sticks they played with look like staffs, the ones that real Druid warriors used.

"And I'm going to stop you!" Vaner declared in a melodramatic voice. They continued like this, LARPing with a joy that made quite a few scratch their heads and wonder what was really going on inside the heads of the players.

When they battled this time, Vaner was actually doing pretty good for once against three opponents. Let's face it, when you get whacked constantly with a stick, you eventually learn some defense skills, especially when you have a stick. He was disarmed this time only by a very sneaky Aqua.

"I thought that Slytherins were supposed to be sneaky, not Hufflepuffs," he complained as he got knocked to the ground playfully.

Aqua laughed. "I've got a little bit of Malfoy in me."

She offered a hand to help him up. He took it and pulled her down next to him. Will and Nomi grinned and lay down beside them in the garden. They stared up at the clouds and optimistically bright blue sky.

"Four years come and gone already," Nomi murmured. "Soon enough we'll be off working."

"Too soon if you ask me," Will said.

"No one did," Vaner teased.

"I'm sure," Will retorted.

Aqua was uncharacteristically quiet. She stared up at the world above with a sort of longing for something. She heard what her father had mumbled on the other side of the window. She saw the looks he'd sometimes give her. As much as she tried to be a good girl, she felt like something about her was wrong. Like she was a disappointment.

"What's wrong?" Vaner asked as she sat up.

"Nothing," she lied in her cheery voice. "I was just thinking."

He looked at her patronizingly, but didn't push it. How could he, when he'd done something similar too many times? She never pushed him, so he never pushed her. It worked out better that way, in his opinion. After all, everyone had secrets. Why not leave everyone's alone?

"I was thinking too," Nomi declared as she sat up and crawled over to in front of

Vaner. "I was thinking about how things are going to change soon. O.W.L.s next year, N.E.W.T.s in our sixth, and I was thinking about how we're going to grow up and move on soon."

"I don't like where this is going," Will said warningly as he moved over next to Nomi.

"I just think we should make a promise," Nomi said with an icy look in Will's direction.

"What sort?" Vaner asked. "If it's some kind of friendship thing. . . Who's to say that three years from now that we might be bitter enemies?"

"That's true," Will admitted.

"Well, it won't be like that," Nomi said haughtily. "It's just that if one of us needs anything, friends or not, we can count on each other to come through, for old times' sake."

"Well that's reasonable," Will said.

"It's a really good idea," Aqua agreed.

"It's not some Unbreakable Vow, is it?" Vaner asked.

"I wouldn't know how to cast one of those," Nomi pointed out as she thrust her hand into the middle of the circle. "Just a basic promise thing, like what muggles do. Crossing our hearts?"

"Works for me," Aqua said, and she rubbed her hands together, then put one hand over Nomi's. "I'm in."

"Of course you are," Vaner muttered.

"Me too," Will said as he placed his hand in the center over Aqua's.

"I'm in," Vaner said with a smile. He stuck his hand into the center.

"We promise that we'll help each other in special need, even if we're enemies," Nomi declared in a formal spell-speech that was habit of the Druids. "Cross our hearts."

Maybe there was some sort of magic in the air. Vaner could've sworn that he'd heard some sort of shimmer. He thought he saw some sort of sparkle, but he figured it was some bit of sunlight, some trick. It was right at that moment when Ms. Malfoy came out.

"It's time to go home, kids," she declared. "The Floo network is ready for all of you."

Reluctantly, the future fourth-years stood up. Aqua gave all of them brief hugs, then started walking them inside. They walked lightly through the dark halls of Malfoy Manor. Vaner was vaguely aware of the history surrounding the gloomy place; all of it made him shiver. Ebony floors that creaked were once trod upon by Death Eaters. The chandelier in the sitting room that was according to urban legend used by Harry Potter to attack the Malfoys and escape dangled over them. The dining room table, if the rumors were true, had witnessed murders.

Vaner involuntarily shuddered at the thought. Aqua was nice and sunny despite all of this, but he wondered how she did it. Kept smiling even when people who'd only known her surname told her that she deserved to die for being a Malfoy. Acted all happy and nice and oblivious to the dark-may one say evil?-past of the Malfoy family. Her grandparents were Death Eaters. Her father was one of the youngest Death Eaters ever. Most of the Blacks, her second cousins, were pureblood supremacists. Yet she was one of the nicest people he'd ever met.

"I guess I'll see you at Hogwarts," Aqua said, derailing his train of thoughts.

"See you then," Vaner said awkwardly. He then stepped into the green flames. "Rowland Estate!"

He stepped into the fire and came out to the empty, dark house that belonged to his father. He nervously headed up the stairs to the room he used when his mother had to be in the United Kingdom. Vaner shut the door behind him and began doodling characters from The Game, doodling scenes, doing anything to keep his mind off of the voice in his dream that had haunted him.

"One day, all of this will be yours. It's your destiny."

Maybe it wouldn't have been so frightening if there hadn't been images of an authoritarian empire bowing in fear to him. That, and he could tell that it was his father's voice. His father was dead, last he checked. If he could hear his voice. . .

Vaner shivered and pressed his pencil down harder into the paper. The pencil broke through, causing Vaner to hiss curses. He threw down his pencil and crumpled he ruined sheet and chucked it at the wall.

He hugged his knees to his chest and tried to not think of anything at all.


	3. Growing Up Malfoy

Aqua tried her best to ignore the look that Grandfather Lucius gave her. He always glared at her in odd ways. She always did her best to bear it. She was the family disappointment, after all. The one Hufflepuff in the House of Malfoy. She was sure that there had to be one before, but apparently she was the only one in living memory.

She sighed and folded the napkin in her lap absentmindedly. She just tried to eat the fillet mignon ("A return to your heritage," Grandfather Lucius had said) and pretend that everything was fine.

"School is in a week," Mother announced.

"You mean that excuse for Hogwarts run by that muggle scum, Angela," Grandfather Lucius interrupted. "Honestly, things were bad enough when Dumbledore had the school, then McGonagall, but at least he came from a respectable family, and at least she kept order, although her tree was ideal. Yet this summer was the year McGonagall decided to step down."

"Well, Father, she is getting along in her years," Father said, trying to keep the peace in another family dinner between his wife and his parents.

"Ninety-nine is not that old for witches," Grandfather Lucius scoffed. "Besides, why couldn't she tough it out while my grandson was still attending."

Aqua bristled at the exclusion of her. She knew it should really stop bothering her, for she was a lost case to him. Still, it hurt.

"Professor Angela's a Slythern," she offered, plastering a perky look to her face as always, the bandage over the severing charm. "Isn't that a good thing? Haven't you said that it's been too long since we had a Slytherin headmaster?"

"Yes, but why not that Slughorn fellow-"

"Professor Macmillan teaches Potions now, remember?" Aqua interjected, only to receive warning glares from the other members of her family.

"Well, Angela isn't a real Slytherin, any muggle-born in Slytherin is a fluke," he finished. "Now, I'm sure you're getting all of these ideas from that stupid hat putting you in that hole-"

"It's a hobbit hole, yes," Aqua interjected. "But Hufflepuff's a really nice place to be."

Grandfather Lucius's expression turned icy.

"That house is setting you up for failure, Aquarius," he informed her. "I see you, playing stupidly childish games with your friends in your grandmother's garden. You should be behaving more like Scorpius. He studies and reads and is excelling."

Mother and Father exchanged a glance as Aqua raised her eyebrows.

"What makes you think that I'm not ready?" She demanded, trying to swallow her tears back. "I work hard at school, I really do. The motto of Hufflepuff is to work hard and play harder. I got top grades for my age, tied with Vaner."

"Vaner's not so bad," Grandmother Narcissa acknowledged. "Serious child, his father was a Slytherin, is that right, Aquarius?"

Aqua nodded.

"Yes, yes," Grandmother Narcissa murmured, now lost in thought. "Pureblood, most likely. Very quiet. Should've been in Slytherin. . . Whatever happened to his father?"

Aqua squirmed. "Vaner said once that he was dead. He really doesn't like talking about his dad."

"Why not?" Grandmother Narcissa was now curious.

"I don't think he liked his dad much," Aqua said with a shrug. "It's not my business to know. We've all got our secrets."

"Very interesting," Grandfather Lucius drawled.

Aqua looked back down to her food uncomfortably. She hated telling things about Vaner that he was uncomfortable talking about to his dearest friends.

"Scorpius, when is Lilith coming?" Grandfather asked.

"Lil- Oh, you mean Lily," Scorpius said. "She's coming over tomorrow night. Her family won't be joining."

"Why not?" Grandmother Narcissa asked.

"They're busy," Scorpius said quickly.

"Is that because she's a Potter?" Aqua retorted daringly in a fit of anger.

"A Potter?" The grandparents chorused as Scorpius glared at his sister.

"Her name is Lily Potter," Aqua said triumphantly. "She's a Slytherin, but she's a Potter, daughter of a Weasley."

Grandfather Lucius let out an involuntary shudder at the thought of being more than distantly related to the Weasleys. He did not want that family tree to get any closer than it already was. He looked at Scorpius.

"Do you want to explain this?" He asked in a dangerously icy voice.

"No, I have nothing I need to explain to you," Scorpius replied in an equally icy voice as he stood up. He then ran out of the room without another word. Aqua felt like she was free-falling and uncomfortable in her skin. What had she done?

"Mother, may I be excused?" She asked in a small voice.

"Yes," her mother said with a dark look on her face. Aqua nodded and ran after her brother. She ran up the polished staircase and barely stuck her foot in the threshold before Scorpius could slam the door.

"What do you want?" Scorpius snarled.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," Aqua said quietly.

"You're right, you shouldn't have!" Scorpius shouted, grey eyes flashing angrily.

"I just get jealous," she admitted. "You're their perfect grandchild, and me? I'm just the disappointment!"

His face softened a little bit. "I get that. But why did you have to tell them who Lily really was?"

"Why couldn't you tell them the truth to begin with?" She retorted.

"You know why, or else you wouldn't have pulled that!" He shot back, looking like he was about to burst into tears. "They're going to be rude to her, and I just wanted them to give her a chance!"

"I'm sorry, Scorpius," she said, hanging her head in shame.

Scorpius sighed. "I accept your apology. But you've got to help me with Lily tomorrow," he said. "Is that a deal?"

"Only if you help me from now on whenever I get jabs for my house," Aqua said.

"It's a deal," Scorpius said, grinning. "Thanks, Aqua."


	4. Trouble on the Train

Will Heartwood ignored the feeling he got whenever he saw Alexander Selwyn walk by on the train station. It hurt to watch him walk over to his new friends. Alexander glanced back at him, his blue eyes flickering with some sort of regret for a moment before looking back to his other friends in their bottle green cloaks that had skull-shaped clasps glinting sinisterly at Will.

He sighed and turned to see his parents and his older sister and younger sister. He slapped a smile on his face and knelt to hug his little sister. He'd shot up over the summer and now towered over the rest of his family, especially his sisters and mother, not that they were exactly short stuff.

"I'm going to miss you, Willy," Keira, his little sister said.

"I know, but it's only one more year till Hogwarts," he promised. "Then you'll be on your great adventure."

"Probably in Hufflepuff," his father said. "Just like the rest of the family."

His older sister, Tessa, grinned at that. Will and Keira shared a knowing glance. He never wanted to push his family into any stereotype. He knew all-too-well from Aqua what a pain that could be.

He hugged his little sister, got back to his feet, hugged his older sister and parents, then dragged his trunk along to the scarlet steam engine. Inside he entered a compartment with Nomi, Aqua, and Vaner. He couldn't help but do a double-take. He knew that he was never going to sit with them again, but it still hurt.

"Need me to help you with your trunk?" Aqua asked as she leapt to her feet like an overexcited puppy.

"N- um, sure," he said, resigning himself to the fact that Aqua would help, whether he liked it or not. He took one end, she took the other, and they lifted it into the luggage rack above their heads. She then took a seat next to Vaner, he next to Nomi. That was usually how things paired up in their little group.

"I see Alex still hasn't come to his senses," Vaner said dryly.

Will shook his head. Aqua's face became sympathetic. She'd been pretty close to Alex, too, before he'd walked away. He hated how he hadn't caught the signs earlier, the kids beating him up in Gryffindor because of his dad and how he got Sorted into Slytherin. He'd let it happen, let it slip through the cracks. Then he just saw Alex hanging around with the Knights of Walpurgis (kinda the neo-Death Eaters) and they hadn't talked again after last June.

"He just needs time," Nomi suggested.

"Yeah," they all chorused as a melancholy silence fell over the compartment. There was a small jerk as the train started. The train pulled out of the station to a countryside through some sort of portal paradox.

* * *

It was when the train began flying through the forests that Will began to have a bad feeling. His stomach had felt like it had fallen out beneath him. The hair on his arms stood on end and his arms shot out to the sides in a moment of precognition.

A second later, the train shuddered and the lights went out. Pop. Pop. Pop. Aqua dived to the floor with her hands over her head as sparks showered onto the floor. Nomi reached for her staff while Vaner reached for Aqua's hand. Just as she took it, the train shuddered again. Then it leaned to the right. Aqua shrieked and slipped under the seats, bringing Vaner down with her. Will fell against the side roughly, Nomi practically crushing him. Then there was another creak. Within a half-second, they were free-falling.

Will crashed against the wall on his side as the glass exploded, cracking the glass sliding door as the one from the other side shattered. Before he could recover, he fell on his head and tumbled onto his back as trunks fell from the racks. He rolled to dodge as the train rotated again. He was deafened to the sound of his own screams and the symphony of breaking glass, screams of friends, and the train tumbling downhill off the tracks. He felt the heat of glass slicing at his skin and other debris.

Finally, the train halted at an angle. It lurched horribly for a moment, then stopped. Will hesitantly propped himself up on his elbows. He had fallen through the open window at the last horrible lurch and was in the soft grass. The sun was fading over the trees and it was dark in the forest. He could see lacerations up and down his arms as he shakily got to his knees. He peeked into the train. The trunks were everywhere, battered and broken. One had broken open and clothes were everywhere.

Aqua and Vaner were lying under the seats in an odd, awkward angle against the wall. Nomi was caught in the rack with her robes and staff. Will steadied himself on the edges of the windowsill and stood. He reached out for Nomi. She yanked her staff out of the rack and extended the end to Will. Without thinking, he jerked _hard_ and she went tumbling down with a satisfying rip, knocking Will over in the process.

He lay in the grass, wondering if it was necessary to get up. Nomi got off of him awkwardly and stared at his face.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"I think so," Will managed. She frowned, however.

"You don't sound good," she remarked. She then looked into the train. "Vaner? Aqua?"

A little red head peeked out and crawled to the space to get out. "We're fine."

"Just a little squished," Vaner added as he crawled next to her.

"Come on out," Nomi beckoned as Will crawled on the grass, making a strong effort to move. Vaner and Aqua tumbled out into the dark forest.

"We need to get help," Vaner declared solemnly.

"But where are we?" Aqua asked.

"Good question," Will remarked as Nomi and Aqua helped him slowly to his feet. He leaned against a tree for support as little lights began to float closer.


	5. Wolves

"Does anybody have their wands on them?" Will asked.

Nomi tutted and twirled her staff for emphasis. "I've got one right here."

"Yeah, but I'd prefer not to lose my wand," Will said.

"It's right there," Vaner said concernedly as he pointed to Will's pocket. "Are you okay?"

Will frowned. "Not sure."

"He's slurring his words," Nomi mouthed. "Not good."

"We need to figure out a way to the castle," Aqua declared.

"The first tip in any survival situation is to stay put!" Vaner argued.

"Let's send up a flare then," Will suggested.

Nomi nodded and the other three pulled out their wands. They shouted an incantation and red ligers shot up into the air to where they could be visible from the castle.

"We should probably try to find the others," Aqua added.

"Tell you what," Nomi said, mapping out a plan in her head. "You and Vaner should go together to find the survivors. Will and I will stay here and wait for somebody to come find us."

"Sounds like a plan," Vaner agreed.

"Be careful," Nomi ordered.

"We will," Vaner and Aqua chorused. The two then climbed back into the train. They stared up at the threshold where the sliding glass doors once were. Aqua then swished and flicked her wand.

" _Wingardium Leviosa_!" she cried. The trunks began stacking themselves in a barely steady structure that could lead them into the hallway. She looked back at Vaner, a small smile creeping onto her face.

"Ladies first," he said. He couldn't help but smile back at her. Something about her cheer was infectious. She smiled wider and jumped up the trunks, occasionally slipping her small hand out to help Vaner up.

When they got into the hallway, Aqua looked to the right, where the engine was.

"You take the left, I'll take the right," she ordered as they stood across the chasm caused by the door.

"But we're supposed to stick together!" Vaner protested. "You know, for safety!"

"I'll be fine, and we need to find the others as quickly as possible," Aqua reasoned with a certainty that Vaner envied. She then turned and darted off, jumping with what he suspected to be some emergency magic powering her leaps. They had been really close to the engine and there weren't many compartments to check for survivors.

Vaner sighed and began checking the compartment now above him.

* * *

Meanwhile, Nomi had started a safe fire with her staff. She'd checked Will over and had done some healing charms for his lacerations, although she had a feeling that he'd gotten a concussion or worse. She had no way to check for sure, though.

"W-Where's the professors?" Will asked as he rubbed his arms for warmth.

"I don't know," Nomi admitted as she sat next to Will on the ground, knees pulled to her chest. "I think they may be getting volunteers to go into the forest for us."

He jumped at the word 'forest.'

"I just realized we're in the Forbidden Forest," he said with wide brown eyes. "Nomi, there are _werewolves_ in here."

"We have plenty of werewolves among the Druids," Nomi replied with a frown. "They aren't as dangerous as you think."

Will just raised his eyebrows as a wolf's howl could be heard in the distance. Nomi immediately leapt to her feet. Just beyond the final glow of the fire, she could make out a glowing set of amber eyes.

* * *

Vaner had been sending people back for what felt like forever. He'd jumped and done several death-defying stunts involving magic to get some of the injured out of their compartments and safely on their way back. He checked his watch. Surprisingly, it had been only a half hour since he and Aqua had split up.

He was at the last part of the train. He had checked the compartment above and no one was in there. He conjured a bit of rope and fastened it to the railing for the luggage. He took a deep breath and jumped down into the second compartment. There was no one inside, but he could clearly see feet outside the window. He slid out carefully, where a group of first-years were rubbing their arms in the cold, teeth chattering.

"Come on," he ordered. "Follow me, we'll get you to where we're waiting for the teachers to find us."

He turned and they went back into the compartment. He tugged on the rope and there was a sickening crack. On instinct, he backed up, pushing the first-years back. Chunks of the railing and other things tumbled down, blocking the path up. He looked to the first-years.

"I guess we'll take the long way 'round then," he said.

* * *

More people had shown up, but the wolves seemed to be gathering, just on the edge of the firelight. Nomi and the others had fire spouting out of their wands, but that just made the radius bigger. Nothing seemed to scare them off. Not even when the conductor had tried to shoot flames at them. They'd just skirted away at that and stared at them. Never had any of the students or adults been so afraid for their lives.

Aqua finally crawled out of the main compartment.

"Where's Vaner?" She asked Nomi and Will.

"I thought you were keeping track of him," Will said.

"We split up to cover our tracks," Aqua said. "Some of the train is starting to become too unstable. I can't navigate through the train anymore."

Nomi repressed the urge to scream at her friend. "Well, we can't send you along because of the wolves-"

"I can handle it," Aqua said determinedly.

"Fire doesn't scare them, Malfoy," Will pointed out.

"You forget, I'm a Malfoy," she said as a sinister shadow crossed her face. "I've got a few tricks up my sleeve."

With fire ignited in her wand, she stepped into the shadows, away from safety.


	6. Illusions of the Fey

Wolves trailed Aqua with a hungry look in their eyes, but she kept the fire going. She wasn't going to let the wolves win this one. She had to keep going. She had to. She swished the jet around to make them stray further, and resisted the urge to summon Fiendfyre. She remembered that day well.

* * *

 _"Remember, this is only for emergencies, Aquarius," her father said. "Be careful."_

 _She'd nodded solemnly and had kept her eyes trained on his every movement. She was determined to master this, a Slytherin ability according to her grandfather. Her father had murmured the incantation and a fire snake had appeared only for a moment. Then he said the counter-curse and all that was left was a scorched bit of ground._

 _"Practice the counter-curse first," her father had ordered. She'd kept her word and had practiced with utmost care. She certainly had a talent for creating a little dragon out of the flames and vanquishing it. When her mother had found them, however, she had screamed at her father and dragged Aqua away to her room._

 _"Promise not to use it," her mother had begged. "Promise me."_

 _"Daddy said only in emergencies," Aqua offered._

 _"Not even then," her mother hissed sharply. "I don't know what he was thinking, teaching a twelve-year-old how to conjure Fiendfyre. Promise me on an Unbreakable Vow."_

 _Her mother held out her hand, and Aqua took it._

 _"Do you promise to never use Fiendfyre?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Not even in emergencies?"_

 _"Not even then."_

* * *

Still, Aqua wished that there wasn't an Unbreakable Vow, since Fiendfyre would most definitely help in this situation. She couldn't though, so she trucked on with her obligatory swipes towards the wolves. Soon, she heard the footsteps of people coming.

"A lot of wolves are out tonight," one voice remarked.

"If we keep those fire spells going, we'll be just fine," Vaner's voice called through the trees.

"Vaner?" Aqua called.

"Aqua?" There were footsteps and the fire came into the view. She saw Vaner and rushed to hug him, only for her arms to enclose around him and to feel nothing. She blinked. She could still see him, but couldn't touch.

She tried again, and felt nothing. She screamed and fell down. When she blinked, she was lying in the mud, her wand a few feet from her as rain poured over her. Her clothes were clinging to her skin as if she'd been in the rain for a while.

"Vaner?" She called out. "Nomi? Will?"

Nothing.

* * *

Vaner stood to the side, swiping fire at the wolves while the first-years ran to the camp of students. He was silently relieved that magical fire wasn't put out by rain. He darted into the circle and the wall of fire shot back up.

Will rose, confused before Nomi pushed him back down. "Where's Aqua?"

"I thought she was in the other half of the train," Vaner said.

"No, she went off to find you," Nomi argued.

Vaner groaned, but inside he went cold. He didn't want to think about what might've happened to her.

"I'll try to find her," he declared. "Just stay here."

"Wait-" Nomi groaned as he stepped out of the wall of fire. "Why doesn't anybody listen to me?"

"Do you want me to answer that?" Will replied somewhat nervously upon seeing her expression of fire.

"Please do."

"Maybe it's because you're so serious all the time?" he suggested.

She shrugged. "It's a possibility."

* * *

Aqua got to her knees and she started to get to her feet when she saw the wolf eyes. She stayed on her knees and inched towards her wand. She didn't want to hurt the animal, but she didn't want to be his meal either. The wolf started stalking closer. She reached out for her wand again, her index and middle fingers pinching the wand. She moved slowly, then the wolf leapt. She shot to her feet and let out a quick dark curse that made the wolf whimper and lie on the ground convulsing.

She looked down at it, horrified at what she'd done. She turned to the walls of a cave. She murmured a fire-making spell and images were illuminated. She stared at the pictures of jewels and magical creatures she'd never even seen before. The one that showed up the most was of a woman with skin the color of the soil, wearing a gown the color of the brightest leaves with wings that seemed to shimmer in the firelight.

She could now hear a sort of song as she drifted further into the cave. She began to hum along, oblivious to the little lights of fairies gathering closer and closer. She didn't feel her cold, wet clothes anymore. She didn't notice how the cave floor was starting to drop, how the end of the cave to a drop off in front of an altar showed.

All she saw were the paintings that seemed to go on forever. She stepped closer and closer to the edge. One foot was off, the other about to kick off of the ground when a hand pulled at her arm. With a sharp jerk, Aqua was pulled back into reality. She screamed and stepped back onto the ledge. Her chest heaved as she stared at the abyss below.

It then hit her that someone still had a grip on her arm. She whipped around, jerking her arm free to see Vaner. Her face softened.

"You found me," she said.

"Nomi and Will said that you were looking for me," he explained. "I had to go after you. What happened? How did you get here?"

"I thought I saw you, then I found myself on the ground," Aqua answered, her voice rising in panic. "I don't know what happened-"

Vaner looked to see the fairies gathering. "We need to get out of here. It might have been a fairy illusion."

"Fairy illusion?" she asked as she followed him out.

"Fairies can manipulate how you perceive everything," Vaner explained. "What you see and hear."

"That's why I couldn't touch you!" Aqua cried in realization.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"How do you know so much?" she asked.

He was silent for a moment. "My father knew a lot about the Fey."

Aqua's eyes widened slightly. "Your father?"

He nodded, looking miserable at the mention of him, and they continued to the ring of fire. There, they waited until the Hogwarts staff arrived via broomstick.


	7. Sweet Dreams Are Made of This

The Opening Feast was rushed to hurry the students off to bed. The first-years clung together, looking miserable and newly sorted. Aqua, Nomi, Will, and Vaner stuck closely together to try and divine what had caused the train to derail. Suspecting foul play, the professors had called in some investigators from the Ministry of Magic to discover the source. Vaner, however, had a fair idea of what he believed caused it.

"The Fey must've done it," he hissed. "I knew that it would come out like this."

"That what would?" Will pried.

"The Fey wouldn't do that," Nomi protested. "Mam always said that the Fey were gentle and kind."

"Not the Unseelie Court," Vaner replied darkly.

"That is a muggle legend," Nomi argued. "Fairy godmothers are common amongst the Druids. One was summoned to sanction my birth."

"Wait, you've met a fairy?" Aqua cried. "That's amazing, Nomi!"

"All the Druids have," Nomi replied with a shrug. "It's our culture."

"Come on, we need to get to the common room," Will said. He was under strict observation by the prefects since the medical wing was too full as it was of injured students. He'd claimed he was fine, but Aqua could see the scratches and lacerations and the way he stumbled when he walked, the intense concentration when he did talk.

They approached the wall of barrels, tapped the rhythm, and crawled inside the common room. Several students were going straight to bed, rather than staying up late and talking like they usually did. Aqua and Nomi said their quick goodbyes to Vaner and Will and they walked inside their dorms.

While they changed into their nightshirts, they couldn't help but talk nervously about what was going on. It seemed strange to all the girls in the dormitory of how it happened. The train crash, and the strange attraction of all the wolves in the Forbidden Forest.

Aqua was quiet, though, and strangely so. She could see the visions the Fey had given her in her head, but now they were terrifying. It made her feel cold, thinking of them, yet she couldn't get them out of her head. She rubbed her arms underneath the long sleeves of her nightshirt.

"Are you okay?" Nomi asked.

Aqua hesitated for a moment.

"Yeah," she lied. "Just tired, that's all."

She then crawled into bed and pulled the sheets over her head.

* * *

It was early in the morning when Nomi awoke. She slid out of bed and dragged her trunk closer to the wall with the nearest window. She climbed atop it and stood on tiptoe to see the sky beginning to turn lighter. She enjoyed sunrises in the mountains and towers where the Welsh were.

She then got back on the ground and began dressing for the first school day. She remembered the disappointed letter when she wrote that she'd been sorted into Hufflepuff. While many of the Druids trained their own, Mam and Da had thought that she should get a full education at Hogwarts.

Every time she saw the yellow and black crest on her robes, she desperately wished that it was silver and green instead. Merlin Emrys was one of them, and to be a Slytherin was a great honor for a Druid. To Nomi's shame, she was of the opposite house. Hufflepuff.

She sighed as she pulled the robes over her shoulders and began to draw. Ever since she was a small child, she just let her hand guide her, let her pencil glide over the page. When she was just four years old, she was found drawing a surprisingly realistic picture with crayons on spare parchment. She only remembered it as a happy little blur, the actual drawing process. When she showed her mother, she gasped and snatched it out of her hands.

"How did you do this?" Mam demanded. Nomi had no response to this and had just stared at her. Mam then walked over to her library of spells, and pulled a photograph out of the albums. It was the exact same as the photograph of Mam's Awakening. The same white dress and ribbons wrapped around her arms and trailing down her legs, same long-dark hair in their kinky waves to the small of her back, the same lilacs and the same exact elders.

Nomi had never seen that picture before in her life.

They thought it was a fluke the first time. They were wrong.

The second time, she drew another meticulously detailed picture of twin towers exploding. That had caused Da's jaw to drop.

Her father had been a muggle that had grown up with the Druids and knew about 9/11. She had redrawn the event despite not ever seeing a picture or hearing about. It would be jarring when in 2015 she drew the Paris attacks the evening it happened.

Every drawing that she did besides the ones for the Game were of the past, present, or future. Sometimes she had no idea what it would be depicting exactly. Other times, she didn't want to know, especially in times when her pencil kept sketching out gory details of a murder and she wanted to throw up.

She finished her sketch of a girl with dark bangs, an army jacket, and a rebellious smirk, then threw it in her satchel without pondering it any further. Nomi felt too tired to get stressed over it that morning. She glanced at Aqua, who was rocking back and forth under the blankets, checked to make sure her alarm was still set to go off, and left. The Hufflepuff common room had people playing games and talking, but Nomi wanted noting to do with it. She continued around the kitchens to the Great Hall.

Only Professor Jada, the headmistress, was out at the early hour. There were only a few breakfast dishes on the tables and a few scattered kids. Nomi sat down at the end of the Hufflepuff table and helped herself to some porridge with extra raspberries. While she ate, she opened her planner and jotted down times for her classes. Just writing it down made her feel better, less anxious.

"Hey."

Nomi turned to see Vaner.

"Hey," she said as he sat down. "Are you okay? You were a bit quiet last night."

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said stiffly. "What about you?"

"I'm just not feeling great today, sorry," Nomi said with a shrug before she picked up a glass of orange juice. "I just feel off, you know?"

"I understand the feeling," Vaner said. "So, got any good drawings?"

"Not really," Nomi lied. "You?"

"Not many either," he said. "I haven't really had any time yet."

"'Lo, Nomi, Vaner," Aqua said as she sat across from Nomi. There were circles under her eyes despite her bright, freckled smile that offset her usual cheerful countenance.

"Are you okay?" Vaner asked immediately. "You look really tired."

"Oh, I'm fine," Aqua said. "I don't know why you'd think that."

"You've got pretty dark circles under your eyes," Nomi told her.

"Well, I'm fine," Aqua declared. She picked up a piece of toast and began nibbling on that.

"I wonder how classes will run today," Vaner said.

The three looked to the elevated table, all wondering the same thing.


	8. Miss Jayden Sinclair

Professor Valkyrie paced the front of the classroom as she waited for the kids to come in. Aqua shuffled in, struggling to stay awake even with the help of tea like the kind Grandmother Narcissa made. She ignored the concerned eyes of her friends and instead gave jerky movements to try and wake up.

Nomi, next to her, was doodling, as was Vaner. Aqua couldn't help but smile and roll her eyes. Of course they were the kinds of people who would doodle on the margins but would still take dutifully good notes. It was the artistic Hufflepuff's way.

"Good morning students," Professor Valkyrie said in her business-like tone. "I suppose you'd like to get straight to it, yes? Excellent. Our fourth-year course of Defense Against the Dark Arts will focus on dark wizards and witches, yes? Well, I will be going into the Ancients, dueling, and some of the tamer Dark Arts that are completely legal."

Aqua nodded, remembering some of what her father had taught her.

"I would also like to assure you that the Ministry is looking into the train crash," Professor Valkyrie continued. "They suspect magic was involved, but it wasn't any sort of Dark Arts. I've been to the crash site myself and I can tell you that I only identified Pink Magic at the crash site. If you could please dispel that popular rumor, I would appreciate it greatly."

A shy Gryffindor girl, the girlfriend of the popular chaser, Valiant Kendrick, raised her hand.

"Yes, Miss Redding?" Professor Valkyrie asked.

"What is Pink Magic?" Meredith Redding asked.

"It's the opposite of the Dark Arts," Professor Valkyrie answered as she began to pace the floor of the front of the classroom. "It's mostly known for the Fey using it. I don't really know that much about it. Pink Magic isn't really my specialty. Very few really do use it. The name is obviously part of what tends to drive people off. I'd ask Lady Daphne Greengrass for more information. She has always been open to owls about her work."

Meredith nodded, but Aqua's head was reeling from the information. Her aunt was using fairy magic? People knew what was going on, besides the obvious exception of Vaner? She knew she needed to send an owl about it.

"Anyways, I just want to continue going over the course syllabus, if that's alright," Professor Valkyrie continued, and she flipped open her agenda. A gust then blew the window open, blowing a stream of flowers around. The first thing the flowers landed on was Jayden Sinclair, a muggle-born Gryffindor rebel. She jumped as the window closed. The flowers were strangely exquisite. They weren't enough to truly scare anyone, but they creeped Aqua especially out.

"They're just flowers. Calm down," Professor Valkyrie said coolly. "Now, please turn the page. . . "

Nomi walked with the others out of the classroom when she saw Jayden Sinclair stumble out, slightly dazed. She stumbled in an unnatural way down the classrooms. What made Nomi feel so uncomfortable about it was that Jayden Sinclair matched the girl she'd drawn that morning.

"You okay?" Will asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nomi said, trying to brush away her concerns.

"If you're sure," Will said. "You just look like you've seen a ghost."

"I'm fine," Nomi insisted. "It's just nothing."

Everyone in the group raised their eyebrows, having known about Nomi's gift for a long time.

"If you're sure," Vaner muttered. He looked back to the girl, who had already disappeared. He then continued on to History of Magic. He entered the mass hall and sat near the Gryffindors. The first thing he noticed was that Jayden Sinclair wasn't there. His panic rose as the lesson ticked on. Still wasn't there. His heart thudded to the ticking of the clock as he wondered where she could possibly be-and dreading the answer.

When the bell rang, he knew his answer. Without another word, he slipped off towards the Forbidden Forest.


End file.
